Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Beat LMU 59-56 for Third Win in a Row
An explosive third quarter and a hard fought fourth gave the Beavers their third win in a row, and their third in the West Coast Conference, as Oregon State took down LMU 59-56 Thursday night. The win puts the Beavers at 7-8 overall, and 3-1 in conference play. Four games into the conference schedule and the Beavers look like contenders.
They didn't for much of the first half, when LMU led for much of the time. early buckets from Kelsey Rees and AJ Marotte gave the Beavs an early lead, but Maya Hernandez put on a clinic for the Lions, scoring the first five points for LMU to tie the game single-handedly. After that, threes from Carly Heidger and Brandi Williams allowed LMU to build a slim lead, with the Lions up 17-14 after one.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Pick Up First WCC Win With 71-67 Victory Over Gonzaga
Those trends continued in the second quarter, with Mya Hernandez exploiting Beaver mistakes to score and Brandi Williams hitting big shots, getting the LMU lead up to 10. Kelsey Rees served up a pair of threes to keep the Beavers in the game, but Oregon State will still down by 7, 33-26, at the half.
The second half felt like an entirely different game. Sela Heide led the charge, going 5 for 5 on field goals in the third for a 10 point quarter. Heide and Rees also did a better job shutting down LMU's ability to score in the paint. The Beavers outscored LMU 20-10 in the period, taking a 46-43 lead into the final quarter.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Fall to Pacifc 66-63 in First West Coast Conference Game
The Beavers held onto that slim lead for the first four and a half minutes of the fourth, but a Naudia Evans three tied the game with 5:27 left on the clock. Evans then made a driving layup, with an and one, to put the Lions back in front. A Catarina Feirreira layup and some Kelsey Rees free throws put the Beavers back in front, and another pair of free throws got the Oregon State lead to three with less than 2 minutes to go, before Naudia Evans tied the game again with another three.
With 50 seconds left, each team missed their shots, before Kennedie Shuler finally found a path through the LMU defense. She made a driving layup, and added a free throw, to put Oregon State back up three with 2 seconds left on the clock. LMU couldn't get a shot off, and Oregon State took the win.
RELATED:
Oregon State Women's Basketball: Beavers Beat Grambling State 63-56
Kelsey Rees led the Beavers in scoring, with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Catarina Ferreira added another 10 points, along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Sela Heide also scored 10, all in her big third quarter, along with 6 rebounds.
The Beavers will be back on the road this weekend, heading up to Pullman to take on a familiar face. The Beavers and Cougars are both 3-1 in the West Coast Conference, making this a key match up for the WCC title.
Having grown up in Pocatello, home of the Idaho State Bengals, John Severs is a lifelong fan of small schools that don't always deliver a lot of wins. Prior to writing for Sports Illustrated, John covered the Beavers for SB Nation's Oregon State blog Building the Dam, with a focus on baseball and women's basketball. When he's not watching college sports he spends most of his time reading, playing video games and annoying cats.